Around 20% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions are estimated to come from global annual deforestation, which often takes place in the most biodiverse regions of the world, such as Brazil and Indonesia.

The fastest rate of deforestation in Indonesia is occurring in central Sumatra's Riau province, where some 4.2m hectares (65%) of its tropical forests and peat swamps have been cleared for industrial plantations in the past 25 years

This aerial photo taken by Greenpeace shows man-made forest fires in a company concession located in the Giam Siak Kecil area in Sumatra’s western Riau province. The area is being cleared for palm oil plantations. Some environmentalists have called the process unworkable and dangerous. While
Indonesia has been the first country to formally introduce Redd pilot programmes, it is still laying plans to clear vast tracts of forests for timber, paper and palm oil, experts have said

Firefighters search for fires in the Penarikan swamp area in Pelalawan, Riau province, in October 2006. Around 20% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions are estimated to come from global annual deforestation, which often takes place in the most biodiverse regions of the world, such as Brazil and Indonesia

A satellite image showing where fires are occurring in Sumatra and Borneo, Indonesia, in August 2008. The UN estimates that 25% of the world’s forestry emissions, or nearly 5% of total global carbon emissions, could be saved by 2015 if rich countries invest $15bn to set up
Redd schemes. So far, rich countries have put up $52m to establish nine official pilot Redd schemes in Asia, Latin America and Africa. In addition, several hundred private schemes are being set up by bankers, conservation groups, and businesses who plan to offer carbon credits on the voluntary market

A Sumatran orangutan. Indonesia is known as one of the most biodiverse countries on earth, hosting 11% of the world's flower species, 12% of mamalia species, 15% of amphibian and reptile species, 17% of bird species and 37% of fish species. Indonesia is also the world’s second largest supplier of palm oil and destroys about 2% (1.87m hectares) of its forests each year — equivalent to 300 football fields every hour

A clouded leopard (
Neofelis diardi). Scientists discovered the leopard on the Indonesian islands of Borneo and Sumatra and have identified it as a new species of big cat, according to the WWF. It is estimated that there are only 18,000 of them left in the wild

Sumatran elephants take a bath in a river in Tesso Nilo national park, Riau. The large contiguous forest of Riau was once home to the largest population of Sumatran elephants (
Elephas maximus sumatrensis), but over the last 20 years deforestation by palm oil and paper industries has reduced Riau’s natural forest cover by almost 60%. Today, just 10% of the remaining forest is suitable for elephants. The forest loss forces elephants into closer proximity to people, leading to conflict and culling as communities react to crop damage and property loss. In Riau province, the Sumatran elephant population has declined by as much as 84%. In 2007, as few as 210 individual elephants remained

A palm oil plantation outside Pekanbaru, Riau. The world’s appetite for wood, pulp and palm oil is fuelling the destruction of peatlands, while widespread deforestation has made
Indonesia the third largest emitter of carbon in the world. A great deal of this contribution comes from the near-annual forest fires on islands such as Sumatra and Borneo

Acacia logs await transportation beside a forest in Pangkalan Kerinci, Riau province. South-east Asia will be hit particularly hard by changes in weather patterns, causing the region’s agriculture-dependent economies to shrink by an estimated 6.7% per year by the end of the century

Satellite images show the damage done to Sumatra's lowland tropical forest. 8m hectares were lost to logging, farming and other changes in land use between 1990 and 2000 alone, with an area roughly the size of El Salvador cleared every year. If deforestation continues at the present rate, lowland trees on the island and neighboring Borneo will disappear by 2010, say conservationists

A villager picks up water spinach growing in a polluted pond, which is used to dump waste from a palm oil factory in the Luwu district of Indonesia’s South Sulawesi province. Indonesia’s parliament recently passed a new bill giving the environment ministry the power to revoke polluters’ business licences, which environmentalists said could lead to more effective enforcement. In addition to the destruction of its forests and wildlife, Indonesia’s rapid economic growth has been accompanied by widespread pollution of its waterways, soil and air, prompting criticism from green groups and the World Bank

International police, politicians and conservationists say programme to cut carbon emissions by paying poor countries to preserve their forests is impossible to monitor and may already be leading to fraud